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Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said there was 'no such thing' as fluoride on its own, explaining: 'There is hydrogen fluoride, for example, but you wouldn't say a fluoride atom.

'You would use fluoride when it's in a compound or when referring to ions. A fluorine atom can become a fluoride ion.'

If Mr Balls' question is asked correctly, the answer is 'By gaining an electron'.

Mr Gove eventually answered correctly, but repeated Mr Balls' error.

Accusing Mr Gove of trying to 'run down' the achievements of youngsters, Mr Balls asked him: 'First question - name the type of enzyme that digests stains containing fats. Sounds quite difficult to me, do you have an answer?'

He then went on to challenge Mr Gove with a question from a maths exam, asking: 'Work out three and three quarters minus one and two fifths.' The answers are 'lipase' and '2.35'.

The clashes came as a report by the new exams watchdog lent weight to Mr Gove's attacks, finding that the OCR and Edexcel exam boards are still too lenient in grading GCSE science.